Modern livestock operations employ a large percentage of beef cattle and other livestock fed by commercial feedlot operators. These businesses are often independent contractors which accept livestock (e.g., cattle) from farmers or ranchers at a certain size and age and feed them until they reach a designated size for slaughter. Typically, the farmer or rancher pays the commercial feedlot operator a rental fee for space and care in the feedlot pen(s) and for the associated feeding costs including other operating expenses.
In the feedlot, cattle are grouped in pens according to their feed requirements. Feedlots generally feed thousands of head of cattle or other livestock at various stages of growth. Cattle within a feedlot are physically contained in cattle pens where each pen will typically have a feed bunk to receive and hold feed for the cattle to consume. Ownership of particular cattle in the feedlot is defined by a unique lot number, for example, and the number of cattle in a particular feedlot can vary and may occupy a fraction of one or more cattle pens.
Within a particular pen, cattle are fed substantially the same feed ration (i.e., substantially the same ration type and quantity) and any one feedlot may have a large number of pens to accommodate cattle at various growth stages or that require special feed handling due to illness or malnourishment, for example. Of course, feeding livestock in such large feedlots is a complex and time-consuming operation given the large number of ration quantities that need determination each day and then delivering such ration quantities to each pen for deposit in a particular feed bunk.
Generally, feeding cattle in a feedlot is two-step process that is completed once or multiple times a day with a goal of feed being available to cattle full time while minimizing excess feed that will be lost due to spoilage. First, the ration for each pen must be calculated to determine the ration quantity to be fed to the associated cattle at the next feeding, and second, feed trucks must be loaded and dispatched with the desired ration quantities to the particular feed bunk delivery and for disbursement of the feed. This first step in calculating the amount of feed required is a process referred to as “reading” the bunks to determine the amount of remaining feed. Typically, a person is charged with reading the bunks and performs this task by driving past all the active cattle pens in the feedlot in a vehicle (e.g., pickup truck) and visually estimates the amount of feed left in each feed bunk from a prior feeding. The amount of feed then designated for a future ration depends on several factors including but not limited to the number of cattle in a particular pen, the type of feed ration, the amount of feed remaining from a prior feeding, weather, and consumption trends.
The recordation of information related to such factors is typically recorded by the person performing the feed bunk reading in a so-called “yard sheet” along with the pen number and lot number of the associated cattle. This person also notes, based on the observation of the feed bunk and reviewing the available consumption history, whether the ration quantity is in need of change which will be noted on a so-called “feed card”. The individual feed cards are then delivered to a central location to be utilized for determining and loading the next delivery of feed by the feed trucks to the respective pens.
As noted above, the feed delivery is the second process step and typically utilizes a so-called “pen ticket” that is prepared for each of the cattle pens. The ration quantities for a number of pens are weighed and placed in a particular feed truck for delivery to the respective feed bunks. A feed truck will usually carry only one type of ration and the truck includes a scale for weighing quantities loaded or discharged from the truck. At the feed bunk associated with a particular pen, the operator of the truck discharges the desired ration quantity by noting the desired loss of weight of ration from the truck on the scale.
As will be appreciated, the above-detailed process is complex, labor intensive and time consuming. Further, the reading of feed bunks can be slow, inaccurate and subject to a variety of data entry errors. For example, these readings typically occur before daylight or in dim morning light with the person trying to drive his vehicle close (sometimes without stopping the vehicle) enough to each feed bunk to make good visual contact with the feed to ascertain feed levels. Similarly, the feed delivery step is labor intensive and time consuming. The feed truck routes and dispensing of feed rations require a large workforce to perform the feed bunk reading which must all be determined in advance and many times in the course of a day in large feedlot situations for the continual feeding of the livestock.
Therefore, a need exists for an improved technique for reliably, efficiently and more effectively monitoring and assisting in the delivery of feed to feed bunks in feedlots.